We are looking to buy a boat in Australia or NZ to liveaboard and cruise around these waters. Is there a good place to get in contact with private sellers? We are looking for around 40-45' (13-15m). In this economy we're looking for someone who may want get out of their currentboat (we're not looking for a good deal, just a face to face sale this time). My husband is a rigger and a mechanic, but would prefer to find a boat that didn't require too much work. I know, they ALL needs lots of work and TLC. But we're looking for less of a "project" than our last boat. I just thought I'd expand our ongoing search with brokers and see what you had to say or suggest...

All the usual internet boat sites + Trade a Boat magazine. Their is no quick and easy way but brokers will generally give you a closer description of the boats true condition than many owners will. This saves a load of wasted inspection time. While I did sell my boat privately I also asked what many would have considered a low price. Good luck!

I think Boat Point (www dot boatpoint dot com dot au) has almost all the actively marketed boats in Aus. From my observation of and participation in the Australian market, the selection is bigger and better value up North in QLD. Down South in Melbourne the selection is limited and more expensive. I don't know about WA or SA.
cheers
James

Excellent, thank you! Don't get me wrong, we've been working with brokers, but we're looking at all options and so far we've been only with brokers, so we're wondering if we're missing good boats. When we bought our last boat we hired our own buying broker even though we found the boat on our own - so it's not that we don't trust them. He took one look at our 2 year-old and told us to invest in a house, not a boat. We trusted his honesty and hired him. We walked away from our then offer on a $400,000 house which is now worth $200,000, and bought a boat through a trusted broker. We're just looking at all options because we know that again the right boat is out there.

try <www.trademe.co.nz> it is a NZ version of ebay and is very good, It is definitely a buyers market over here. But there are some good airline deals available so depending where you are in Aus you would be able to short list a few say in Whangarei / Auckland / Bay of Islands and pop across for a look for not a lot of dough. Your Dollar is worth a bit more over here as well.

It is also just worth fronting up at marinas an asking around about boats for sale. If you can track down the vendor directly You don't actually need to have a broker involved at all, which immediately takes a decent chunk off the asking price before you even start to negotiate.

If your buying a yacht in Australia be carefull of the business ethics of the brokers. I've had an unfortunate episode with Matthew Holliday of Central Yacht Sales resulting in me making a complaint to MarineQueensland. Keep at the forefront of your mind "buyer beware"

2nd Steve Pope. I 've given up on brokers in OZ, boats are overpriced and brokers are keeping them there. Still a few private ones around if you're lucky to catch them. Heading to NZ myself next month and hopefully do a deal. Best of luck.